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List of historically-significant people who reported cryptid sightings
The following is a list of historically-significant people who claimed to have seen animals which are now, or once were, considered cryptids. Details regarding the sightings can be found in the cryptids' articles. The list does not include cryptozoologists who have seen the animals they search for, or incidents which directly led to the formal recognition of former cryptids. B *William Beebe (1877 — 1962), American naturalist and explorer. Claimed to have encountered a number of still-undescribed deep-sea fish (the abyssal rainbow gar, giant dragonfish, pallid sailfin, three-starred anglerfish, and five-lined constellation fish) during deep sea bathysphere dives off Bermuda. Also claimed to have caught a glimpse of the iworo in . *Daniel Boone (1734 — 1820), American pioneer, frontiersman, and explorer. According to Boone family tradition, in the last years of his life, he told several people that he had killed a ten foot tall, hairy giant which he called a "yahoo." This has been taken as an early Bigfoot account.Faragher, John Mack (1992) Daniel Boone – The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer *William Buckley (1780 — 1856), English transported convict who lived for many years with an Aboriginal community. Claimed to have seen the back of a bunyip, which he described as a calf-sized animal covered with dusky grey "feathers".Opit, Gary "The Bunyip," Myths & Monsters 2001 Conference Papers (2001) *James Burton (1786 — 1862), English Egyptologist. Came across three enormous nests in Gebel Zeit, Egypt, between 1821 and 1823, which locals said belonged to huge storks, thought to be Bennu birds. C *Gaius Julius Caesar (100 — 44 BC), Roman general, politician, and dictator. Wrote of seeing a "unicorn" in Germany's Hercynean Forest.Shuker, Karl P. N. ShukerNature: WHEN JULIUS CAESAR MET THE HERCYNIAN UNICORN karlshuker.blogspot.com 20 November 2019 *Edward Chace, American traveller who spent thirty years (1898 — 1928) in Patagonia. Claimed to have heard a steam whistle-like call, which he thought was made by the Patagonian ground sloth.Barrett, Robert & Katharine, Barrett (1931) A Yankee in Patagonia: Edward Chace *Leonard Clark (1907 — 1957), American explorer. Claimed to have seen a milne in Peru and a beruang rambai in Borneo. *Saint Columba (521 — 597), Irish abbot and missionary. Said to have banished a "water beast," often connected with the Loch Ness monster, from the River Ness in 565. *Charles Cordier, French animal collector. Claimed to have seen a kakundakari, which he said got caught in one of his bird snares.Soule, Gardner "Mystery Animals," Boys' Life (November 1965) D *Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 — 1930), British author who wrote the cryptozoologically-relevant The Lost World (1912). Claimed that he and his wife saw a long-necked sea serpent in 1907 off Aegina in Greece's Saronic Gulf. Although he referred to it as an "ichthyosaurus," his description was that of a plesiosaur. E *Hans Egede (1686 — 1758), Dano-Norweigan missionary. Claimed to have seen a sea serpent about a hundred feet long off Godthaab, Greenland, on 6 July 1743. Variably classed as a super-otter or a case of mistaken identity. F *Thomas Falkner (1702 — 1784), English Jesuit missionary in Patagonia. Claimed to have briefly seen a yaquaru as it leapt into a river. *Percy Fawcett (1867 — disappeared 1925), British geographer, explorer, and archeologist. Famously wrote of shooting a giant anaconda and encountering the mitla, the maricoxi, and dogs with two noses. G *Thomas Gann (1867 — 1938) British archaeologist. According to Harold T. Wilkins in Secret Cities of Old South America (1950), Gann claimed that during an expedition to the Rio Hondo, Belize, in 1932, he had seen a shaggy black animal with a white mane, which he thought resembled a ground sloth. *Philip Henry Gosse (1810 — 1888), British naturalist and theologian. Claimed to have seen a pod of white-flippered beaked whales in the North Atlantic on 22 and 23 November 1844, during a voyage to Jamaica. H *Huan of Han (132 — 168), Han Emperor of China. Said to have encountered a qingniu or si, which leapt out of a river at him, but was killed by a general named He. I *Ion Idriess (1890 — 1979), Australian itinerant and author. Claimed to have had two Queensland tiger sightings, initially reporting them under the pseudonym Gouger. J *John Alfred Jordan, English adventurer, big game hunter, and ivory poacher. Famously made one of two recorded sightings of the dingonek. K *Henry Keppel (1809 — 1904), British Royal Navy officer. Acquired the hand of a giant orangutan. L *Lewanika (1842 — 1919), King of Barotseland. Claimed to have seen the trail made by an isiququmadevu, though he missed the animal itself. *Ramón Lista (1856 — 1897), Argentine explorer, naturalist, and administrator. According to Florentino Ameghino, Lista claimed to have encountered a "hairy pangolin" thought to have been Neomylodon. M *Reinhold Messner (born 1944), Italian mountaineer and explorer. Claimed to have had four sightings of the "yeti" (specifically the dzu-teh or similar dre-moh), which he described as large bears which often walked bipedally. He also claimed that he had clear photographs and even a skeleton of the animals. P *Henry Piddington (1797 — 1858), English merchant and polymath. Claimed to have seen a bandar-log who one of his workers brought in. *Byron Khun de Prorok (1896 — 1954), Hungarian-American archaeologist and explorer. Claimed to have seen vampire bats in Ethiopia and vampire plants in Mexico. S *Shu Yu of Tang, Chinese ruler. Said to have hunted sis with a bow at Tulin in the 11th Century BC. *Miles Smeeton (1906 — 1988), British sailor and adventurer. Reported the second of two known Steller's sea ape sightings. *Henry Morton Stanley (1841 — 1904), British journalist and explorer. Told Harry Johnston that he had caught a glimpse of an enormous black pig in Central Africa during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.Arment, Chad "Johnston's "Third Mysterious Animal" from the Congo," BioFortean Review: 2009 strangeark.com 5 July 2019 *Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709 — 1746), German naturalist. Famously described seeing a cryptid which bears his name, Steller's sea ape, as well as the less well-known Steller's sea raven. *Edwin Roper Stocqueler (1829 — 1895), English painter. He and his mother both claimed to have seen bunyips in the Murray River. Z *Zhao of Zhou (1027 — 957) King of China. Said to have encountered an enormous si at Han River during his failed expedition against Chu, circa 950 BC. *Zhuang of Chu (died 591), King of Chu. Said to have shot a si with an arrow in Yunmengze ("Yunmeng Moors"). Notes and references Category:Cryptozoology